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Development and Application of Small Spaceborne Synthetic Aperture Radars (1998) / Chapter Skim
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Executive Summary
Pages 1-5

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From page 1...
... , the Committee on Earn Studies of the Space Studies Board concluded that a third flight would produce useful scientific results if the existing instrumentation were simply reflown, but that it would produce especially worthwhile results if it were modified for dual-anter~na interferometric measurements of terrain topography. In the 1995 letter report, the committee also summarized the current capabilities of SAR applications in ecology ice sheets and glaciers, oceanography, hydrology, and solid-earth studies.
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From page 2...
... studies of future sensing needs describe research and operational requirements leading to a need for multiple spacecraft with markedly differing characteristics (e.g., W,nokur, 1996~. However, the LightSAR baseline design proposed by JPL appears to incorporate new technologies In ~nsaument design and antennas that could result In significant sue, mass, power and cost savings compared to existing international SAR systems, but it does not adequately address coverage requirements for multiple users.
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From page 3...
... End-to-end system engineering can then be optirn~zed to serve the prioritized suite of information needs. The committee notes that of the several proposed operating frequencies associated with SARs, the L-band is especially useful In forest and desert ecology applications, but other applications such as agriculture may lead to a small SAR design based on C-, X-, or K`~-band frequencies.
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From page 4...
... Such increased accuracy may be very compelling to industrial partners seeking to satisfy commercial demands. Industry teams can be expected to pay close attention to He end-to-end costs of any system enhancements relative to the expected commercial value of such a system.
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From page 5...
... No single nation has the resources to deploy the constellation of satellites necessary to exploit this technology fully or to test the advantages and disadvantages of different combinations of spectral bands or types of data from different sensors. CONCLUSION Recent technological advances that can significantly reduce the size and cost of spaceborne SAR, advances in data capture and processing, the advantages of SAR over electrooptical imaging, and potential trade-offs to reduce the weight of a SAR all led the committee to conclude that focused applications of a multifrequency small SAR mission, as opposed to one with a s~ngle-frequency system, could provide more and better information and understanding of earth, ocean, and atmospheric processes at lower costs than were heretofore possible.
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Key Terms

  • synthetic aperture
  • sar data
  • spaceborne synthetic
  • sar missions
  • commercial value

  • international sar
  • mission design
  • aperture radars
  • sar applications
  • data capture

  • lightsar science
  • lower costs
  • integrated global
  • scientific objectives
  • observing strategy

  • aperture radar
  • planet earth
  • mission focus
  • business development
  • shelf life

  • baseline design
  • science plan
  • global observing
  • relative priorities
  • lightsar program

  • sar mission
  • design definition
  • design process
  • earth science
  • jpl appears


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